10 ECW Stars Who Died Too Young

10. Axl Rotten

Balls' one-time tag team partner Axl Rotten also passed away in this year, dying on February 4th at the age of 44.

Axl, whose real name was Brian Knighton, debuted on the independent scene at the tender age of 17 and worked primarily as a singles wrestler before forming a team with his kayfabe brother Ian (who Axl helped train), known as the Bad Breed.

Knighton briefly worked for WCW in 1991 and befriended future ECW booker Paul Heyman, who hired the Bad Breed to work for the Philadelphia-based promotion in 1993. Inevitably, the duo split and began feuding with one another, leading to a series of gruesome stipulation bouts, including a 'Taipei Death Match' which saw both men covered their taped fists with shards of broken glass.

Yikes.

Axl continued to work for ECW until 1999 when he left and headed for the independent circuit. He made a cameo in the main event of WWE's ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view in 2005 and wrestled a few dark matches for the company soon after. He was going to become a full-time member of the roster but the deal was withdrawn when he overdosed on heroin and subsequently no-showed several events.

A spine injury left him paralysed and unable to perform in later years and he had been struggling with substance abuse issues. His death reportedly came as a result of a heroin overdose. Just hours before his body was discovered, he had eerily tweeted that 'the way I do things may not be the way you do things'.